


The Heir Apparent

by Ultra



Category: Leverage
Genre: First Born, Gen, Inheritance, Origin Story, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Surprises, Wealth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-17
Updated: 2011-11-17
Packaged: 2020-02-29 15:32:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18781111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Even Parker had to have come from somewhere.





	The Heir Apparent

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for Leverageland at Livejournal.

The heirs sat waiting for the announcement. He prepared himself for a riot when he read the will. Not that it was his fault his client was an eccentric old man and a philanderer to boot, but he was not looking forward to this one little bit.

It started well enough, the usual spiel and the normal reactions. The widow dabbed her eyes as her husbands words were read to her, declaring that his beloved family were to inherit large shares of his cash. Two proud and smarmy sons, one grabby-handed daughter. It was almost worth the shouting and screaming that came next to really savour the main announcement.

“And as to the matter of my estate, Bromley Hall, and the title which must be passed to my eldest child...” the lawyer continued, trying to contain a grin as the Lord’s supposed heir puffed himself up like a peacock. “I wish for my true heir to be sought out. The daughter I have never met, borne of my first marriage...”

The widow shrieked, the daughter screamed, the sons protested long and loud, but there was nothing to be done. The documents were definite, the promises air-tight. Lord Bromley wished his estate to be entailed to his eldest child, borne to the first wife that his current family clearly knew nothing of, lost somewhere in America by all accounts. If she could be found it would be a minor miracle, and yet, the lawyer grinned at the prospect of trying to do so, wondering what sort of person she might be...

.

Parker sat on the kitchen counter, kicking her heels back and forth against the wood as she shovelled cereal into her mouth at such a rate as to spill milk all down her chin.

“Do you have to do that?” Eliot asked her with an unimpressed look as she crunched and slurped her way through the contents of the bowl.

“What?” she asked, clearly not knowing what was objectionable, even as she spat tiny pieces of crispy flakes and milk at him.

Thankfully, before he had a chance to explode at her, they were interrupted. Nate strolled in with Sophie on his heels, all ready to brief the team on their latest job. Unfortunately, the moment the mastermind began telling ‘the kids’ what was what, he was interrupted himself by his grifter.

“Parker, what have you done?” she asked as she approached the girl, reaching out to finger the ends of her hair. “This is burnt” she exclaimed, as she looked towards Nate.

He only shrugged, it was Parker after all.

“It wouldn’t go straight this morning and it was annoying me,” the thief huffed without a care as she hopped down off the counter and took her bowl to the sink. “The iron worked, kind of, 'til it started smoking...” she tailed off, shrugging her shoulders, clearly completely unphased.

“Nothing bothers that girl,” said Sophie, looking between Nate and Eliot who were not willing to pass comment it seemed.

This whole time, Hardison had been completely silent, which was odd in itself. The only time he had even looked up from his laptop screen he had been glancing in Parker’s direction, though never saying a word. Something was clearly wrong here, though Eliot dreaded asking what for fear the hacker was about to propose or something equally as dumb that Parker wouldn’t understand.

“Uh, guys?” he said at length, ushering the three over whilst their little thief messed around at the sink with her bowl and spoon and so many soap bubbles that were clearly amusing her, “We might have a problem here” he explained, turning around the computer so they could all see.

“Well, this can’t be about Parker, surely?” Sophie gasped. “Can it?”

Nate shook his head, clearly as baffled as anyone as he glanced from the screen to Parker, and back to Sophie’s stunned expression.

“Well, she had to have come from somewhere,” he considered, “and her parents being split up... I always assumed...”

“I was startin’ to think somebody grew her in a lab,” said Eliot, only semi-serious of course, but apparently any humour in his comment was not appreciated right now.

“Question I got is, do we tell her about this?” asked Hardison, as he re-read the words on the bulletin, about the lawyer of some Lord trying to track down a long lost daughter that was almost definitely Parker.

“Tell who, about what?” asked the blonde in question as she appeared so suddenly as to make the rest of the team jump.

Hardison closed the lid of the laptop fast as each of them looked at the others with panicked expressions. Nobody wanted to be the one to explain this, but Nate knew ultimately it was going to have to be him. He was the father figure, and besides, the others were all but running away now they had the chance.

“Uh, Parker, honey,” he said carefully, forcing a smile. “Um, do you remember anything at all about your birth parents?” he asked her, hoping to God she didn’t just have a weird non-Parker moment and burst into tears all over him.

“Not much.” She shrugged easily. “I never met my Dad, just my Mom, and she was... I don’t know, she talked funny sometimes, and she cried a lot,” she said, looking a little sad now as she thought on it too much.

“Did she... Did she call you Parker, or did that name come later?” Nate checked, really not wanting to upset the girl, but they did need to get this straightened out before too long.

“It was her name.” The blonde nodded, feeling weird sharing this but these people were her family now and she trusted them enough to go this far. “Her last name, actually, but why do you wanna know?” she checked then, feeling weird as she looked around and found the whole crew staring at her in a way that made her squirm.

“Sweetie, I think we might all be taking a little trip to England,” said Sophie with a half a smile, and Parker honestly wasn’t sure what to make of that.

.

The sunshine lit up the large house like a diamond in the centre of rolling green fields, but nothing could beam as bright as Parker on her walk up to the front door. It was hard not to smile just the same as she did, the team found, as they followed her into the house she had apparently inherited.

It had been a shock to find her parents were in fact the Lord of a manor and an American woman he married in secret to avoid his own parents disapproval. When they found out what they would term ‘the ugly truth’, the marriage had been dissolved and the pregnant wife shipped back to her home country without a moments pause.

She couldn’t cope, and by the time Parker was four years old, she had been put in the system for her own good, with a promise that Mommy would be back for her before too long. She never did return, and had died years later, without so much as a goodbye to her only daughter.

“I have a castle” Parker squealed happily as she ran into the house, spinning in circles as she took in all the rich furnishings and shiny trinkets that belonged in this place, belonged to her.

“Not quite a castle, sweetie.” Sophie laughed lightly. “But it is a beautiful house, and you are a very lucky girl to own it.”

“She may not be a traditional girl,” said Nate as he stood with his grifter and watched Parker drag her friends down the hallway, “but she did always want to be a princess.”

“Well, she’s not quite made it that far,” Sophie reminded him, “but Lady of the Manor is hardly to be scoffed at.”

As Eliot and Hardison were dragged around the mansion by a delighted Parker, Sophie couldn’t help but be just a little jealous at first. This was the life she was supposed to have and had turned her back on forever. Of course, she would never deny Parker such happiness, she only hoped it could bring her more joy. She finally had a home, connected to a past she never knew, and a family of sorts to share it with. Sophie had to be happy for her dear friend, there was just no way to be anything else.


End file.
